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Old 12-04-22, 07:50 PM
  #66  
axolotl
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mev, I was aware that there have been some cases of malaria in a small part of lowland southern Chiapas state along the border with Guatemala (it's a very remote area), but I was genuinely surprised that there have been any recent cases of malaria in Chihuahua state. Most, if not all of Chihuahua, is a desert, not exactly a prime environment for mosquitos. PAHO, the Pan Am Health Org I linked to earlier, has a map having fairly good detail about where there have been cases of malaria reported in Mexico. That map shows there are 2 very small geographic areas with a concentration, one is a small remote part of southern Chihuahua, the other in a small remote part of southern Chiapas. In any event, the OP isn't going anywhere near either of these areas, plus he's going in the dry season. In fact, few visitors go to either of these areas because of their remoteness. I was actually in Chiapas for 3 weeks but mostly in and around San Cristobal de las Cases, which is at a very high altitude (about 7,200 ft/ 2,200m), and during the dry season (winter). Zero mosquitos. Indeed it's pretty chilly at night there in the winter. I was studying Spanish there but I did a bunch day trips on my bike while there, but at altitude. Anyway, I'm a little surprised the CDC seems to be painting all of Chiapas with the same broad brush since it's a large state with huge elevation differences.

Other mosquito-born diseases like dengue are not non-existent in Mexico, but the incidence is low compared to other countries in tropical Latin America, and once again, the OP is going during the dry season. While I would expect the Yucatan to be bone dry while the OP is there, there's a good chance he'll encounter some rain in Tabasco and SE Veracruz, so some mosquito precautions may be prudent. FWIW, there are a small number of dengue cases reported in the US, too. (I imagine that many or most are travel-related, but I haven't attempted to look that up.)

My friend & I had a significant rain shower in a microclimate area in SE Veracruz in Jan/Feb. When we visited a moist tropical forest reserve the next morning, we couldn't get a guide to take us on the trails there. The reason? The guide said that after rain, there were often snakes out and about. There are a variety of venomous snake species found throughout Mexico. The dangerous fer-de-lance is found in eastern Mexico and is reportedly an aggressive snake.

As I wrote previously, yellow fever is not found north of the Panama Canal. Hopefully, that remains true in the future.

The first time I went to the Yucatan, my guidebook incorrectly warned of swimming in fresh water due to schistosomiasis. I was surprised to read that so I researched it because I wanted to go swimming in a cenote, if possible. It turned out the guidebook was wrong. Schistosomiasis was not found in Central America or Mexico. Apparently there is a small danger in some Caribean islands now, however.

I've taken anti-malarials twice after doing a fair bit of research. In some places, I decided that the risk was extremely low and didn't take them. For example in Laos. Because cases were mostly in southern Laos during the wet season and I was only going to northern Laos during the dry season, I chose not to take anti-malarials. I never noticed any mosquitos on that trip and I had zero rain while biking there. I did begin taking anti-malarials before going into the Amazon basin of Ecuador, but we were there in the dry season and we slept under mosquito netting the 2 or 3 nights we were there. When I was back in the highlands of Ecuador, I decided to stop taking the anti-malarials because I hadn't been bitten at all by mosquitos while in the Amazon, and there was no danger up in the Andes.
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